Nestor Parrots 455 



hinge, which permits of considerable motion, and a thick, fleshy, often bushy 

 or fringed tongue, while in all but a single genus the tail is composed of twelve 

 feathers. With the exception of the curious Owl-Parrot (Stringops}, the Par- 

 rots are mainly arboreal, climbing about among the branches and trunks, in 

 which office they make considerable use of the hooked bill, as well as the dis- 

 tinctively climbing feet. They are usually brilliant in coloration, showing 

 much of green, yellow, and red, with occasionally brown and black, and lay 

 white eggs, which are deposited in holes, usually in trees but sometimes in banks, 

 ants' nests, etc. The period of incubation is approximately twenty-one days, 

 the males assisting to some extent, and the young are born helpless, being fed 

 for some time by the regurgitation of partially digested food from the crops of 

 the parents. 



The Psittaci is a large group, comprising over eighty genera and nearly six 

 hundred species, and is most prominently developed within the tropics, with a 

 very few forms extending as far north as the forty-second degree of latitude 

 and south as far as the fifty-fifth degree, within which limits they are practically 

 world-wide in distribution, being especially rich in Central and South America, 

 Australia, and the Pacific islands. Only two species, the Carolina Parakeet 

 and Thick-billed Parrot, are found in North America north of Mexico, and the 

 vast Palaearctic region is without a single representative, though once possessing 

 them, as the fossil remains testify. Many attempts have been made to classify 

 the group of Parrots, some of which have been based on purely external appear- 

 ance, while others are founded on various anatomical characters, but none thus 

 far proposed appears to have resulted in a thoroughly satisfactory natural arrange- 

 ment. This is the more remarkable when it is remembered that material on 

 which to prosecute investigation has been unusually abundant, since the group 

 has long been a favorite one in captivity, both with private collectors and zoologi- 

 cal gardens; but the fact remains that we are still in ignorance of the complete 

 internal structure of a majority of the members of the suborder, and until this 

 knowledge is forthcoming probably no really natural disposition can be made. 

 So, to quote from Mr. A. H. Evans, we may, " in default of a really satisfactory 

 arrangement, accept that of Dr. Gadow, who agrees in the main with Count 

 Salvador!, " who elaborated the group for the British Museum Catalogue of Birds. 

 He recognizes two families, each with three subfamilies, in the first of which (Tri- 

 choglossida} the tip of the tongue is provided with horny filaments, while in the 

 second (Psittacidat) the tongue is smooth. The Trichoglossidce includes the 

 subfamilies Nestorina, or Nestor Parrots, the Loriince, or Lories and Lorikeets, 

 and the Cyclopsittacina, or False Lories, and the family Psittacida embraces 

 the Stringopina, or Owl-Parrot, the Cacatuina, or Cockatoos, and the PsittadncB, 

 or typical Parrots. 



The Nestor Parrots (Subfamily Nestorince) . This is a very small group, 

 comprising only a single genus (Nestor] and six nominal species, of which three 

 are either extinct or of doubtful status. Entirely confined to New Zealand or 

 adjacent small islands, they are birds of fair size, being from fifteen to twenty 

 inches in length, and may be known by the compressed long bill, which is much 



